Dall'Agocchie study group review: eighth and ninth sessions

I have learned an important thing this week about bringing any dead system back to life: I have to be very careful to not be over zealous in my interpretations, as I have done with the stepping in the guards drill. For the longest time - at least since I've been at AEMMA, so nearly two years - I have always practiced the first two actions (the left and right ribbons) with a triangle step to finish, reorienting myself to the left and the right, respectively. Upon looking at the language of the text, however, only a traversing step is mentioned; a much shorter action, and more efficient, to be sure.

1. Beginning with the sword at your left side, throw either a falso manco or riverso tondo followed by a riverso sgualimbro, stepping to your right side with the right foot. End in Coda Lunga e Stretta.
2. Throw a falso dritto followed by a mandritto sgualimbro, stepping to your left side with the left foot. End in Cinghiale Porta di Ferro.
3. Everything else is the same from here on out.

It was good to stumble a bit, because it helps me to tighten up the system even further, simplifying it. We spent a lot of time during Wednesday's session just moving our feet, not even bothering with the sword. From what we've seen so far, and from what has come out of our free play, knowing how to change direction quickly is of the utmost importance. Two of the ways we have experimented with are the following:

1. Throw a mandritto sgualimbro with an increase of the right foot, transition to Guardia di Faccia while stepping behind your right side with the left foot, and then throw a riverso ridoppio while stepping to your left with the right foot, followed by a riverso sgualimbro, stepping to your left with the left foot. To reverse, throw a ridoppio from here without committing the right foot yet, and then throw a mandritto sgualimbro.
2. Throw a mandritto sgualimbro with an increase of the right foot, transition to Guardia di Faccia while stepping behind your right side with the left foot, and then throw a riverso sgualimbro while stepping to your left side with the left foot, etc. and so on.

For today's session, I took us through the ringer. We went through all of the attacks and defenses that are done counter-clockwise (Testa and Faccia, with change of direction); for next time, I hope to do some loose play going clockwise. Then we went through the attacks and defenses going clockwise. We have some refining to do, but the basics are there.

We exceeded my expectations today by getting through the first three parts of the paired form, from both the attacker and defender's perspective. I stress again that we just have the basic motions down: we have much refinement to do. That being said, here are the actions in writing:

1. A begins in Coda Lunga e Stretta. B throws a mandritto sgualimbro to the head, and A parries in Guardia di Faccia and immediately thrusts to the face. End.
2. The play can continue if B binds in Guardia di Faccia. A then leaves by throwing a riverso sgualimbro while passing back with the right foot, ending in Coda Lunga e Alta.
3. B throws a riverso ridoppio and immediately thrusts an imbroccata. A parries with a mezzo mandritto sgualimbro, stepping to his right with the right foot, and counters with a riverso tondo followed by a riverso sgualimbro, ending in Coda Lunga e Stretta.
4. The play can continue if B covers against the tondo in Guardia di Faccia, and the riverso sgualimbro in Guardia di Testa.
5. B immediately throws a mandritto sgualimbro A's right leg. A parries with a falso dritto, while drawing his left foot behind the right, and then counterattacks with two mandritti sgualimbri to the head, ending in Porta di Ferro Stretta.

Dall'Agocchie study group review: Quick edit

I nearly forgot to post one of the most important things we learned in yesterday's study group. Although it may seem very obvious - and really, it is - it bears mentioning all the same. When doing the provocation (riverso ridoppio-imbroccata back to Porta di Ferro Stretta), the attacker will make an attack that follows from his guard. If for example, A is in Guardia di Testa, it would make sense to throw a mandritto or riverso sgualimbro (and possibly even a stoccata), as a high guard naturally wants to go downward. Conversely, if A is in Porta di Ferro or another low guard, it would make sense to thrust an imbroccata or stoccata, which are both attacks that go from low to high.

The reason I bring this up is because we found (Aldo in particular) that throwing the wrong attack from X guardia means attacking out of tempo, which is something we never want to do. For example, starting in Porta di Ferro Stretta, it would make little sense for me to go up to Guardia di Testa, and then throw a mandritto sgualimbro. The most expedient attack would be a riverso ridoppio-imbroccata combination.

Dall'Agocchie study group review: seventh session

Another day of training, another post to review what we did today. I think we're on to something with the cutting in a circle drill: in groups of three, one person stands in the middle, and the others practice their cutting in the following way(s):

• Throw the mandritto sgualimbro-Testa combo going counter-clockwise.
• Throw the riverso ridoppio-riverso sgualimbro combo going clockwise.
• Change directions on command.

Next, we isolated the mechanics of changing directions using two drills: long and short version. I like starting with the long version personally because it gets you going a little bit, and then you change, but the short version is equally good because it really drives home how quick the change can be.

• Long version: Throw a mandritto sgualimbro with an increase of the right foot, "parry" in Guardia di Testa while stepping behind your right side with the left foot, and throw another mandritto sgualimbro. Now "parry" in Guardia di Faccia while withdrawing the right foot, and then immediately throw a riverso ridoppio while stepping to your left with the right foot. Parry with a riverso sgualimbro, withdraw the right foot and go to throw a riverso ridoppio, but then throw a mandritto sgualimbro while stepping to your right with the right foot. Rinse and repeat.
• Short version: Throw a mandritto sgualimbro with an increase of the right foot, "parry" in Guardia di Faccia while stepping behind your right side with the left foot, and then throw a riverso ridoppio while stepping to you left with the right foot. Parry with a riverso sgualimbro, go to throw a riverso ridoppio, and then throw a mandritto sgualimbro while stepping to your right with the right foot. Rinse and repeat.

Solo form: nothing new here. More refinement is needed, just like with everything else. However, we still need to figure out when the right ribbon combination comes in.

Finally, we went through the basic defenses from Porta di Ferro Stretta against all attacks: mandritto, riverso, riverso to the leg, imbroccata and stoccata. Not surprisingly, the defense is identical in all cases, with the "exception" of the riverso to the leg, but not really.

• Against the high line attacks, the foot and bladework is as thus: parry with a riverso sgualimbro while stepping to your left with the left foot, attack the arm with a riverso ridoppio (without stepping), and then thrust an imbroccata to the available target. In short, it's defense-attack-attack.
• Against the low line attack, we do exactly the same thing, except both the riverso sgualimbro (which immediately turns into a riverso ridoppio) are defenses, while only the imbroccata (which is to the face) is the attack. So, we have defe----nse, attack.

Curiously enough (or is it?), we do the exact same thing on the other side, where Guardia di Testa drops low to cover the attack to the leg, and then immediately becomes a mandritto to the head again. Let's keep working this next time.

Dall'Agocchie study group review: sixth session

Although we had a smaller group than usual on Wednesday night, we covered a lot of material, and I think we're finally ready to move on to bigger and better things, namely the paired form (what Dall'Agocchie calls variation of the guards) and the circle drill(s) in both directions. We also were lucky to have Gene film me going through all the guards, demonstrating all the cuts and the solo form for a video study guide, so things are moving along very nicely.

This is what we covered:

1. We started by going through all the guards, which went very quickly this time. We have two low guards with the hand in second (Coda Lunga) and two low guards with the hand in fourth (Porta di Ferro). If we raise the hand to about shoulder height, we have Guardia d'Entrare (second), Guardia di Faccia (fourth). When the arm is raised above the shoulder, we have Guardia d'Alicorno (first) with the point forward, and Guardia di Testa with the point across the the body.
2. Next we walked the circle in both directions; when walking counter-clockwise, we always through a mandritto followed by a parry in Guardia di Testa, and when walking clockwise, it's a riverso sgualimbro followed by an imbroccata. Changing directions is something we need to work on...
3. We finished the solo form! There are a number of refinements to be made, but everyone has it down. We'll keep doing this every class until it is second nature.
4. The counter-clockwise cutting and thrusting drill. We finished basically every part, so starting Saturday, we can actually "play" it. For those who haven't been paying attention, here it is:

• A throws a mandritto sgualimbro to the head, B parries in Guardia di Testa and counterattacks with a mandritto sgualimbro.
• A throws a mandritto sgualimbro to the head, B parries in Guardia di Faccia, and threatens a thrust to the face: either A does nothing and receives the thrust, or A binds, so B throws goes to the other side and throws a riverso sgualimbro to the face (first strait of the half sword, true to true).
• A throws a mandritto sgualimbro to the head, B parries in Guardia di Testa, and transitions to Guardia d'Alicorno. One of three things can happen: 1) A does nothing, and receives an imbroccata to the face. 2) A goes to parry in Guardia d'Entrare, and B throws a mandritto to the head or leg. 3) B performs a mezza volta of the sword and immediately thrusts a stoccata to the face.
• As a counter to either of the above thrusts, A throws a dritto tramazzone to the sword hand while passing back.

Dall'Agocchie study group review: fifth session

While I definitely appreciate having a dozen people on the floor, nothing beats a study group of three people; we get through a lot of material, all present get a lot of practice, and every goes home sore. Today's study group session went very well, and we actually covered a tremendous amount of material, and I was inspired to use different drills to run the group more efficiently.

Footwork

Since all of our drills thus far require that we move in a circle, our basic footwork drills ought to reflect that. Regardless of which direction we're walking in, we will always be moving our left foot along the circle first, followed by a step into the circle with the right foot. We're getting quite good and moving along the circle without thinking about it, now we have to learn to rapidly, correctly change directions. With sword in hand, it looks a little something like this:

1. From Guardia di Testa, throw a mandritto sgualimbro with an increase of the right foot.
2. "Parry" in Guardia di Testa while stepping behind with the left foot, followed by another cut with an increase of the right foot. This time, parry in Guardia di Faccia, and throw a riverso ridoppio while stepping to your left with the right foot.
3. Throw a riverso sgualimbro while stepping with your left foot to the left side, and throw a riverso ridoppio to Alicorno without stepping. Now throw a mandritto sgualimbro while stepping to your right with the right foot, and then immediately transition to Guardia di Testa while stepping behind your right side with the left foot. Rinse and repeat.

Wow, that's a whole lot of words to describe a very simple set of actions. With Gene's help, we can put this on video, so everyone can see what I'm talking about. We'll go over this on Wednesday night.

Testa drill

In a sense, we "finished" the Guardia di Testa drill today, as we have covered all of the five attacks that can come from parrying a blow in that guard. I didn't get a chance to put everything together at the end of class due to a lack of time, but that's my goal for next time. Briefly, here's what we did:

1. The classic: mandritto sgualimbro + Guardia di Testa until the rubber on our soles wears off.
2. Guardia di Faccia + punta riversa (thrust in fourth) to the face instead of Guardia di Testa. this can lead to either: an immediate thrust to the face if our partner does nothing, or a riverso to the outside if he or she decides to bind. Again, video evidence will be forthcoming!
3. Transitioning from Guardia di Testa to Alicorno. Again, here we have two options: if our partner does nothing, thrust an imbroccata to the face. If he or she decides to parry, throw a mandritto sgualimbro to the upper or lower body, and immediately recover to Guardia di Testa.
4. Stoccata from Guardia di Testa: perform a mezza volta of the wrist (first to third), which puts your true edge on your partner's flat, and immediately thrust to the face.

Dall'Agocchie study group review: fourth session

Last night's session went very well, and I learned quite a few things from it myself, particularly in regards to where I want this whole thing to go. Concerning my role as a teacher, I realized two very important things:

1) The 90/120 minutes we have twice a week is extremely valuable, and as such, must not be wasted. As much as I love chit-chatting about fencing during class, we all have better things to be doing, namely the drills that we're developing. If you can't focus on what you're doing for longer than 30 seconds, you should be doing something else.

2) Since this is my research project for my free scholar exam later this year, I am taking this time very seriously, and ask of everyone else to do the same: show up ready, train hard, ask questions later. I make myself available during all the breaks and after class, so please, ask away.

Anyway, getting back to the topic at hand, we covered a few new things last night that I know people will need notes for, particularly the full solo form. In the following paragraphs, I will describe all the actions of the solo form, as well as the more advanced version of the Testa drill that some of us got to test out in the last half hour.

The solo form

1. Left ribbon (falso manco/falso riverso tondo + riverso sgualimbro) with a triangle step (tutta volta) with the right foot, facing 45 degrees to your left. Coda Lunga e Stretta.
2. Right ribbon (falso dritto + mandritto sgualimbro) with a triangle step with the left foot, facing 45 degrees to your right. Cinghiale Porta di Ferro.
3. Dritto tramazzone with a pass forward, going through Guardia di Testa, ending in Porta di Ferro Stretta.
4. Left ribbon with a pass forward, ending in Coda Lunga e Alta.
5. Riverso ridoppio (rising true edge cut from the left side) to Alicorno + imbroccata (descending thrust in First) with a pass forward, ending in Porta di Ferro Stretta.
6. Left ribbon with a pass back, ending in Coda Lunga e Alta.
7. Dritto tramazzone with a pass back, ending in Porta di Ferro Stretta.
8. Dritto tramazzone with a pass back, ending in Cinghiale Porta di Ferro.
9. Left ribbon with a pass back, ending in Coda Lunga e Stretta.

New variations on the Testa drill

1. A throws a mandritto sgualimbro, B parries in Guardia di Testa and counters with a mandritto, A parries in Guardia di Testa and counters with a mandritto, etc.
2. Instead of parrying in Guardia di Testa, B parries the cut in Guardia di Faccia, and then thrusts to the face with an increase of the right foot.
3. After parrying in Guardia di Testa, B changes to Alicorno and threatens a thrust to the face. Now, A either: does nothing and gets an imbroccata to the face, or pushes the point aside and is struck with a mandritto to the leg, body or head.
4. As above, except B will press down (true edge on flat) on A's sword and thrust a stoccata to the face or chest.
5. In the case of either thrust, A will throw a mandritto tramazzone to the hand while passing back. (Didn't cover this in class, but we'll get to it on Saturday)

In other news, rapier fencing after was fun, though we could use more people next time.

Dall'Agocchie study group review: third session

For today's study group session, I wanted to refine what we have covered so far, without introducing too much new information. We had a pretty good group today, so I actually went a bit farther than I had planned on going, and that's just fine with me.

Basically, we reviewed all eight guards, the different cuts and thrusts, and the first six parts of the solo form. There must be a better way to teach it, because I'm just not seeing it yet! Although I think it is useful to practice with the partner holding a sword for each step, it also takes far too long to cover what is ultimately a simple (but not easy!) exercise. For next Wednesday's session, I think I'll link all the steps together first, having everyone follow me, and then we'll put it into practice.

Today's big leap forward was brought to us by the Guardia di Testa-Mandritto sgualimbro drill. I felt it appropriate to introduce another kind of defense - still using the same footwork - and counterattack, as well as a provocation of sorts, which leads to one of two attacks: an imbroccata to the face and a mandritto to the leg.

1. Begin the drill as normal, and when A goes to throw the mandritto, B will instead parry in Guardia di Faccia while stepping behind his right side with the left foot (i.e. identical footwork to the Testa defense), and immediately thrust to the face with an increase of the right foot.

2. After parrying the mandritto in Guardia di Testa, A will make a threat to B's face by changing to Alicorno. From here, there are two likely outcomes:

a) B goes to parry in Guardia d'Entrare, which allows A to throw a mandritto to the leg. This works because while B is busy defending up high, A is free to attack the entire inside line, either high or low.

b) B does not react, so A simply thrusts an imbroccata to the face.

Dall'Agocchie study group review: first two sessions

As promised, here is a brief review of what we covered in the last two study group sessions. I keep thinking that we haven't done a whole lot, but upon reflecting, we've actually plowed through an enormous amount of material in just under three hours. It's great to have a mix of new and more experienced fencers, as it allows me to constantly fine tune my teaching style, and the presentation of the material. If you have any questions, post a comment, send me an e-mail, or talk to me at AEMMA!

1) Footwork: there are virtually NO differences between what Dall'Agocchie advocate, and what Fiore talks about in his brief discussion of footwork in the section on the sword in two hands. We can however make the following points:

a) The footwork described in Dall'Agocchie's treatise is unambiguously circular, quite similar to Spanish (Destreza) footwork, the main differences being the position of the sword and the stance. It is for this reason that we start out walking along the circle with our partner: two fencers with the unaccompanied sword will be walking in a circle, end of story.

b) Curiously, there is no overt mention of the volte in Dall'Agocchie, i.e. the volta stabile, the mezza volta, and the tutta volta. Upon closer examination of the attacks and defenses, it is clear that they are implicit, but not named or discussed.

2) The guards: all of the guards described by Dall'Agocchie are point forward; all other guards have fallen into disuse by the time he wrote his treatise in 1572. (At least in the Bolognese school) This greatly simplifies the entire system, for there are only eight guards we need to learn: four low, four high.

a) The coda lunga (long tail) family of guards (low): the sword is held outside the right knee, with the hand in second. These two guards - stretta (right foot forward) and alta (left foot forward) - invite an attack to the left side of the body.

b) The porta di ferro (iron gate) family of guards (low): the sword is held inside the right knee, with the hand in fourth. These two guards - stretta (right foot forward) and cinghiale ("wild boar", left foot forward) - invite an attack to the right side of the body.

c) Guardia di Faccia (the face guard) and Guardia d'Entrare (the entry guard) are both high guards. Both guards are formed with the sword at roughly shoulder height; in GdF, the hand is in fourth, and in GdE, the hand is in second.

d) Guardia di Testa (the head guard) and Guardia d'Alicorno (the unicorn guard) are also high guards. In both cases, the hand is in the first position, with only one difference between the two guards: in Alicorno, the point is directed at the opponent, whereas in Testa, the point is to your left side.

3) Cutting and thrusting: the hard part here is learning all of the names, a task which is made all the more difficult due to the fact that every master uses a slightly different nomenclature. To simplify matters, I will only use Dall'Agocchie's terms:

a) Sgualimbro (oblique cut): a downwards blow that cuts from the opponent's shoulder to the opposite knee. For example, if I throw a mandritto sgualimbro, it would cut from my opponent's left shoulder to his right knee.

b) Tondo (circular cut): a horizontal blow that is identical to the mezzano.

c) Falso (oblique cut with the false edge): a rising blow with the false edge that cuts from the opponent's knee to the opposite shoulder. A falso dritto, for example, would go from my opponent's left knee to his right shoulder, while a falso manco would go from his right knee to his left shoulder. These cuts are used primarily for parrying and provoking the opponent.

d) Ridoppio (redoubled cut): a rising blow with the true edge that cuts from the opponent's knee to the opposite shoulder. The mandritto ridoppio does not appear to be a useful cut, as Dall'Agocchie only mentions it once in his entire treatise. The riverso, however, is everywhere, as we shall see.

e) Fendente (cleaving cut): identical to Fiore's definition of a fendente.

f) Tramazzone (a cut that falls heavily): a cut thrown from the wrist; the same as a short compass cut.

g) Stoccata (straight thrust): a thrust with the hand in third.

h) Punta riversa (thrust from the reverse side): a thrust with the hand in fourth.

i) Imbroccata (downward thrust): a thrust with the hand in first.

4) The solo form. After learning the guards and the various blows of the sword, Dall'Agocchie shows his student, a M. Lepido, how to step in the guards, changing from guard to guard. It is in this short form - a total of nine distinct steps - that the student learns a number of valuable combinations, and how the guards work together. We have so far studied the first six steps.

a) With the sword held at your left side, and the right foot slightly in front of your left, throw a riverso tondo (with the false edge) while stepping on the traverse with your right foot, followed by a riverso sgualimbro, bringing your left foot behind the right. You should end in coda lunga e stretta.

b) Now throw a falso dritto while passing on the traverse with your left foot, followed by a mandritto sgualimbro, bringing your right foot behind the left. You should end in cinghiale porta di ferro.

c) Bring the sword to guardia di testa and throw a dritto tramazzone while passing forward with the right foot, ending in porta di ferro stretta.

d) Throw a falso manco together with a riverso sgualimbro while passing forward with the right foot, ending in coda lunga e alta.

e) Throw a riverso ridoppio, coming to guardia d'alicorno, and thrust an imbroccata while passing forward with the right foot, ending in porta di ferro stretta.

f) Throw a falso manco together with a riverso sgualimbro while passing backward with the right foot, ending in coda lunga e alta.

5) Yielding and counterattacking in a circle: the guardia di testa-mandritto sgualimbro drill. One of Dall'Agocchie's major tenets is to always make two defenses in every action: one with the sword, and one with the body. To put this into practice, I have taken one of his defenses and turned it into a continuous drill that will become more complex as we gain experience. A will always begin in guardia di testa, and B in coda lunga e stretta.

a) A throws a mandritto sgualimbro to the head with an increase of the right foot, and B parries in guardia di testa, while bringing his left foot behind the right side, effectively taking the target off the line. Repeat on both sides.

b) Once B is comfortable making the defense - which is a yielding parry, NOT a block - he/she will counterattack with a mandritto sgualimbro to the head. Repeat on both sides.

c) A will now parry B's attack in guardia di testa, using the same footwork. Repeat on both sides.

d) After making the parry, A will counterattack with another mandritto sgualimbro to the head. Repeat on both sides.

e) Now the drill continues to a maximum of twelve cuts, then reset.

At the end of this Wednesday's class, I also introduced to a few more advanced students a second kind of defense - a parry in guardia di faccia followed by a punta riversa to the face - that uses the exact same footwork, and can be inserted at specific moments. We'll look at this more closely during the next session, as well as a number of other possibilities, including a change of direction.

I'll leave it here for now, as it has already gotten much longer than I had initially planned. Again, if there are any questions, comments, suggestions, feel free to leave a comment. Until tomorrow.